I am a Japanese astronomer and study gas in the Milky Way, our own galaxy. I moved to Hilo in 1998, just after getting the Ph.D. of science at University of Tokyo. I have a six-year-old daughter and three-year-old son. They were born in Hilo and my daughter goes to a public school. I am providing astronomical presentations at schools and hands-on workshops as many times as possible, mainly for elementary school students. I can talk to students at any age: from preschoolers to high school students. Some of my presentations are:

- How far the Moon is (pre K to grade K)

- What is in space (grade 1 and up)

- Planets in our Solar System (grade 2 and up)

- The distance in space (grade 3 and up)

- The birth and death of a star (grade 4 and up)

- Milky way, our Galaxy (grade 6 and up).

And my hands-on activities are:

- Make your own Milky Way model

- Make your own spectrometer with a compact disk (CD).

Please visit my home page for details (http://www.naoj.org/staff/kumiko). If you are interested in my presentations and hands-on activities, feel free to contact me. My e-mail address is: kumiko@subaru.naoj.org. Your special requests are very welcome.